Online Video
In the past I've provided links to various types of music and video available
free on the Web.
I created a page that summarizes those various links ---
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/music.htm

Not online but worth noting
Unless you're on the NASA fast track, you'll never get any closer to the red
planet than Roving Mars, a remarkable documentary that uses computer animation
and actual images from two NASA rovers to maximum effect.
Xeni Jarden, "One Giant Leap to IMAX ." Wired News, January 3006 ---
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70014-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_9

NPR might play your favorite song ---
http://www.npr.org/programs/asc/surveys/valentine.htmlThey're playing our song! Tell us your favorite
love song and how it came to be the one tune that captures the way you or
someone you love feels. Where did you first hear it? When did you first know it
was your song? Selected songs and stories will be featured later on NPR.org for
Valentine's Day.

From Janie (I was hoping somebody would serve up this since
The Singing Man stopped remembering these)Do You Remember These?---
http://jbreck.com/janieswebsiteIII.html
Scroll down to the song title
Who can forget the Statler Brothers?

The Jungle Book - Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was a British
author and poet, born in India. He is best known for the children's story The
Jungle Book (1894), the Indian spy novel Kim (1901), the poems "Gunga
Din" (1892), "If " (1895), and his many short stories. For a time after his
death, he was not popular in literary circles, mainly because he was perceived
as a defender of Western imperialism ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard_Kipling

Earth: Past the point of no returnRenowned scientist James Lovelock says he believes
the world has passed the point of no return for climate change, and
civilization is unlikely to survive.
"Earth: Past the point of no return," PhysOrg, January 17, 2006 ---
http://www.physorg.com/news9928.html

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy — who ripped Supreme
Court nominee Samuel Alito for ties to a group that discriminates against
women — says he’s going to quit a club notorious for discriminating against
women “as fast as I can.” Kennedy was outed by conservatives late last week
as a current member of The Owl Club, a social club for Harvard alumni that
bans women from membership.Jules Crittenden, "Ted K. to quit club that bans women," Boston Herald,
January 17, 2006 ---
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=121646

Mayor Ray Nagin on Monday called for the
rebuilding of a "chocolate New Orleans" that maintains the city's black
majority, saying, "You can't have New Orleans no other way." "I don't care
what people are saying Uptown or wherever they are. This city will be
chocolate at the end of the day," Nagin said in a Martin Luther
King Jr. Day speech. "This city will be a majority African-American city.
It's the way God wants it to be." "Nagin calls for rebuilding 'chocolate' New Orleans," CNN, January
17, 2006 ---
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/01/17/nagin.city/

The last such success was Dunkirk. Lots of solidarity
there, too.
Makes you want to weep. One day earlier, Britain, France and Germany
admitted that two years of talks to stop Iran's nuclear weapons program had
collapsed. The Iranians were resuming activity in defiance of their pledges.
This negotiating exercise had proved entirely futile. If anything, the
two-year hiatus gave Iran time to harden its nuclear facilities against
bombardment, acquire new antiaircraft capacities and clandestinely advance
its program. With all this, the chancellor of Germany declares the exercise
a success because the allies stuck together! The last such success was
Dunkirk. Lots of solidarity there, too. "Charles Krauthammer, With Their Heads in The Sand," The Washington Post
via The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2006 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113753672047348914.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep

For every 100 babies born in New York City,
women had 74 abortions in 2004 . . . And abortions for out-of-town women
performed in the city increased from 57 to 70 out of every 1,000 between
1996 and 2004, a subtle yet noticeable trend that experts say may reflect
growing hurdles against the procedure in more conservative parts of the
country. Paul H.G. Shin, "91,700 abortions in city," New York Daily News,
January 19, 2006 ---
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/382990p-325078c.html
Some analysts think abortion cuts crime rates ---
http://www.kottke.org/05/04/freakonomics
Others disagree with Levitt's data (not necessarily the conclusions) ---
http://www.isteve.com/abortion.htm

Where was the Dow on January 23, 1997?
It grew over 60% in nine years despite having the bubble burst in 2000
.

The Wall Street Journal Flashback, January 23, 1997

The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped to
its fourth consecutive record, sparked by the continued
strength of computer-related stocks. The index, at a record
1388.06, gained 11.09, or 0.81%. The Dow closed down 33.87
at 6850.03, its first decline after four record-breaking
sessions.

Controversies Over Oligopoly Pricing of TextbooksAs students come back to campus and get their
spring semester assignments, many will pause in the bookstore and make a
choice. They can buy everything on the syllabus -- or take a chance.
Sometimes the math is easy: $189.75 for a thick text on principles of
management? No thanks. Textbook prices have been rising at double the rate
of inflation for the past two decades, according to a Government
Accountability Office study. In Virginia, more than 40 percent of students
surveyed by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia said they
sometimes just do without.
Susan Kinzie, "Swelling Textbook Costs Have College Students Saying 'Pass',"
The Washington Post, January 23, 2006 ---
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201290.html?sub=new

I think the antitrust lawyers need to look at
the publishing oligopoly and the illegal (????) tying of textbook
bundles. The use of the bundled-ISBN has been one of the biggest
ripofffs in the history of sales techniques.

Finding Bipolar Disorder with MRI:Brain scans like the one I had are now routine,
used for everything from detecting signs of stroke to searching out
suspected tumors. But researchers like Peterson are pushing MRI technology
further than anyone once thought it could go. In the last decade or so, MRI
has been retooled to reveal not only the anatomy of the brain but also the
way the brain works.
"Finding Bipolar Disorder with MRI: Part 1 of our magazine feature on
brain imaging techniques that could lead to improved diagnosis of
psychiatric ailments," MIT's Technology Review, January 23, 2006 ---
http://www.technologyreview.com/BioTech/wtr_16175,304,p1.html

This article was a feature story in Technology Review's
December 2005/January 2006 print issue. It has been divided
into three parts for presentation online. This is part 2;
part 1 appeared on Monday, January 23, and part 3 will
appear on Wednesday, January 25.

A World Class Athlete With World Class Ethics That Will Impact Upon
Future GenerationsHe speaks his mind --- and apologizes later.
He loves to party --- and doesn't care about winning. Yet Bode Miller
is poised to strike Olympic gold. On the slopes with skiing's bad
boy,.
Bill Saporito. As written on the cover of Time Magazine, January 23,
2006 ---
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1149374,00.html

Jensen Comment
Bode Miller is the best of the best in a sport where winners are determined
by hundredths of a second on a stop watch. His picture is on the cover
of the January 23, 2006 edition of Time Magazine. Although he's
relatively unknown in his home country (U.S.A.), he's been an established
hero in Europe where crowds chanted "Bode, Bode, . . . ." while he was on
his way to winning the 2005 World Cup. He's poised to become the Gold
Medal hero in the 2006 and obtained recent U.S. notoriety due to a recent
interview on Sixty Minutes (CBS television) in which he admitted that having
fun is more important than winning and that he sometimes partied too much
when skiing including a few instances when he was a bit tipsy or hung over
when crashing down the slope at over 80 miles per hour.

Chagrined media analysts questioned whether the partying and outspoken
Bode Miller was really a role model for our young people. I contend
that he is largely do to some things buried in the article in Time
Magazine. After discussing his partying and independent nature, the
article goes on to explain how Bode more than any other skier in history
made a science out of the sport. Most of his life has been spent
studying and experimenting with every item of clothing and equipment, every
position for every circumstance on the slopes, and the torques and forces of
every move under every possible slope condition. That sort of makes him my
hero, but what really makes him my hero is the following quotation that
speaks for itself:

Last year, after tinkering with his boots, he
discovered that inserting a composite --- as opposed to aluminum or
plastic --- lift under the sole gave him a better feel on the snow and
better performance. Then he did something really crazy, he shared
the information with everyone, including competitors. His
equipment team flipped, but in the Miller school of philosophy this
makes complete sense. Otherwise, he says, "I'm maintaining an
unfair advantage over my competitors knowingly, for the purpose of
beating them alone. Not for the purpose of enjoying it more or
skiing better.To me that's
ethically unsound."

One has to be reminded of the famous poem painted on the wall of my old
Algona High School gymnasium:

This week, briefs were filed in a Supreme Court
case that should appeal to Entertainment Tonight, Court TV and Meet the
Press -- as much as to the smaller set of us nerdy types who follow
technical legal and constitutional issues closely. Sometimes lawsuits
are just plain fun -- and Marshall v. Marshall is surely one of them.

The personal side of the case sounds like a
version of "What's Love Got to Do with It?" It all began with the
heartwarming story of Anna Nicole Smith, a 20-something exotic dancer
who found love with an 89-year-old oil billionaire. His money helped
bankroll her career, as she went from Playmate to lingerie model to
reality TV star. The couple got married -- with no prenuptial, just a $6
million gift for marrying him. And, Ms. Smith now claims, a promise to
leave her half of his fortune when he died. After a 14-month marriage,
during which he spent considerable time jetting off to track her down,
he passed away at the age of 90.

Ms. Smith (née Vickie Lynn Hogan) was not only
grief-stricken at the loss of her husband, but grieved as well that,
though much taken with her, he failed to provide the extra half-billion
dollars she said she was promised in exchange for their brief marriage.
So, off to court she went. Blaming lawyers and, most of all, the favored
son for her plight, Ms. Smith filed suits in Texas and California. She
attacked the will, the trust associated with it, and asserted a raft of
related claims.

Her Texas suit was in probate court, where all
good will contests belong. Her California suit was a bankruptcy filing.
(Six million dollars just doesn't go that far these days.) Ms. Smith's
personal assistant had filed a suit against her for sexual harassment:
She didn't fight it and, voilà, faced a default judgment big enough to
get her into federal court. (She also blamed bankruptcy on not getting
her expected inheritance, foreshadowing the real legal fight.) Later,
Ms. Smith settled privately with her assistant, making the bankruptcy
unnecessary. By that time, she'd gotten all of the Texas claims tacked
onto her federal action in California -- who says blondes are dumb?

Ms. Smith lost in Texas, won in California,
then lost in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but got a
rare pass to the Supreme Court -- one of about 80 each year.

That brings us to the business part of the
case. I have a mea culpa. Last fall, in a commentary in this newspaper,
Ken Starr and I made fun of the Supreme Court for taking Ms. Smith's
suit and passing up the obviously important antitrust case against
Microsoft. In fairness, this case actually does raise important issues.
Not in Microsoft's league, but big in their own way.

Ultimately, the real issue is whether someone
can do an end-run around state probate courts. When someone dies, the
best evidence about who was promised what is gone, too. Not
surprisingly, more than a few spurious claims are made about what a
deceased actually meant to give. States require legal actions relating
to wills and estates to be brought in one place and settled at one time.

Probate judges develop special expertise in
sorting through the claims, figuring out what legal documents are valid,
and deciding who gets what. Knowing that all the claims will be resolved
under the laws of your state, in the courts that specialize in this,
lets people plan the disposition of their assets with some certainty
that their intentions will be respected. It also gives recipients of
bequests some security that whatever they receive will not be merely a
ticket to endless litigation.

The Constitution's "full faith and credit"
clause helps protect against repeated rounds of litigation in different
states, as each state is bound to respect the judgments of other states.
But the sticky issues come with the vertical, not the horizontal, side
of federalism. Federal courts generally are available to citizens of
different states to iron out their disputes, and a large array of other
federal claims can get one into court. Federal courts like the idea of
their superiority to state courts, and only rarely do they defer to
their state brethren. Historically, they made an exception for issues
committed to state probate courts. The doctrine has some ragged edges,
but it has held up pretty well for more than a century.

Anna Nicole Smith found a new wrinkle, however,
by bringing her claims into federal court through a bankruptcy case.
Bankruptcy courts are accustomed to bringing everything relating to the
property of the bankrupt (including legal claims) within their walls.
Like probate, there are benefits to centralizing bankruptcy-related
claims.

Here, the probate case is real; the central
legal claims are core probate claims; and the bankruptcy looks like a
sham (or at least a highly manipulated case). But the courts still have
to draw the lines between the two jurisdictions. The Supreme Court
hasn't taken a case directly dealing with the division between state
probate and federal court jurisdiction in 60 years. And the growth of
charitable foundations over that time makes the case even more
important, as those enterprises generally don't have the same
opportunities for game-playing (or forum-shopping) as enterprising
individuals.

So, next month, the justices, solemn faces,
black robes, minds filled with great legal thoughts, will sit in
judgment over Ms. Smith's case. Her fortune, as well as the fortunes of
many others, will ride on the outcome. Will the court make it easy for
donors to leave money as they see fit? Will they keep the probate
business in probate courts? Or will they open the door to the most
creative and enterprising among us, with a ruling that only trial
lawyers and trailblazers will love? If love, indeed, has anything to do
with it.

At the Pioneer Elementary School in Green Bay,
Wis., Jay Marcks's fifth-grade students have been spending a lot of time
with liter-sized plastic soda bottles full of dirt, snails and "acid
rain" made with vinegar. The project is designed to teach students, in a
hands-on way, about ecosystems, and about forming and testing scientific
theories. "They're learning more," says Mr. Marcks, than if he was just
explaining it to them. "I love it."

Judging by the recent increase in such
"inquiry-based" science education, many other educators and students
share his enthusiasm. In 2004, the National Science Teachers Association
recommended making such strategies "the centerpiece of the science
classroom." Texas, for example, now mandates that high-school science
students spend at least 40% of their time on hands-on lab and field
work.

But just as the new approach gains traction,
it's colliding with another educational trend. States and the federal
government are pushing to standardize science education and to test
students' progress against those standards. Forty-two states now test
students in at least three grades, up from 24 states in 2002. The
leading federal test, the National Assessment of Educational Progress,
is taking a step back from the inquiry-based model and rewriting its
next test to include fewer questions based on student experimentation
and more questions based on material typically taught in lectures and
textbooks.

Continued in article

Inside Higher Ed is Calling Out for You

January 23, 2006 message from Inside Higher Ed

Inside Higher Ed has reached its first birthday
with a real sense of accomplishment. The site has become a strong
alternative voice on higher education issues, thanks largely to readers
like you. We invite you to stay involved, and add your voice to the
debate at
www.insidehighered.com

This month is a great time to help us spread
the word. Forward this link to your colleagues and let them know about
Inside Higher Ed’s daily update: top news stories, provocative opinion
and great new jobs — all delivered by e-mail each weekday.

Everyone who signs up by February 28, 2006, has
a chance to win a Bose Wave II clock radio. Click the link and you can
enter the drawing, too. After all, what’s a birthday without presents?

Question
What is Duke's changed incentive system for faculty and administration?

AnswerThe norm in higher education is that when
professors become chairs or directors of undergraduate studies or take on
some other “service” duty, their reward is to have their teaching load
reduced. As a result, if good faculty members are taking on these
responsibilities, their colleges are losing some (or most) of their
teaching. Duke University is about to try a different approach. A faculty
committee proposed a system — recently adopted by the dean of the College of
Arts and Sciences, which has 600 faculty members — to create a menu of
rewards. A reduced teaching load would still be an option. But a professor
might also choose extra money for a laboratory, a travel fund to visit a
far-off archive without having to spend time applying for a grant, or just
extra cash.
Scott Jaschik, "Changing the Incentives," Inside Higher Ed, January
19, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/19/duke

Gay Marriage: Taking the Battle to the StatesSupporters of legalizing same-sex marriage have
largely eschewed a federal battle, choosing instead to focus their efforts
on a case-by-case basis in state courts around the country. Challenges are
largely based on the argument that barring same-sex unions violates equal
protection and due process guarantees in state constitutions. Below, a look
at how these challenges are playing out in several states:Maria Godoy, "Gay Marriage: Taking the Battle to the States" NPR,
January 20, 2006 ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5163971

Answer: Stanford University announced Wednesday that it has
raised more than $1.1 billion in a five-year fund-raising campaign to
support undergraduate education. While several universities have completed
campaigns that raised more than $2 billion, the norm for billion-dollar
campaigns is that they are conducted by research universities and that much
of the big money ends up supporting professional schools and research. All
of the money raised in the Stanford campaign will go toward undergraduate
education, with a major emphasis on special courses created for freshmen and
sophomores, and new undergraduate research programs. Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/19/qt

Asian Art Gift for Museum at Florida State UniversityFlorida State University on Tuesday announced a $50
million gift — in cash and art — to support Asian art holdings at the
university’s museum. The gift is from Helga Wall-Apelt, a Sarasota
collector. The collection going to the university includes large Chinese
jades, bronze sculptures from Southeast Asia, and Cambodian stone figures
dating to the 12th century. Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2006 ---
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/01/19/qt

Warning: It may not a good idea to take your vitamins and
prescription medications at the same timeAfter taking his daily multivitamin, John
Swartzberg waits at least two hours before taking any other medications.
That's because multivitamin pills usually contain calcium, which can
interfere with the absorption of a prescription drug. Dr. Swartzberg, editor
of the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness letter (a monthly
publication that advises people on diet and nutrition) buys the cheapest
generic multivitamins available. He checks the bottle to see whether the
U.S. Pharmacopeia has approved the multivitamin. USP is a nonprofit group
that verifies drugs and dietary supplements.
"A Doctor Takes Vitamins," The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2006;
Page D1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113753657461248910.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Question
So what are all the guys who had booming boom boxes in their cars doing now?

Answer
Learning sign language

In the worst cases, a single eye is located where the nose should beA
photoof a one-eyed kitten named Cy drew
more than a little skepticism when it turned up on various Web sites, but
medical authorities have a name for the bizarre condition.
“Holoprosencephaly” causes facial deformities, according to the National
Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National
Institutes of Health. In the worst cases, a single eye is located where the
nose should be, according to the institute's Web site.
"Not a Hoax, One-Eyed Kitten Had Bizarre Condition." PhysOrg Blog,
January 13, 2006 ---
http://weblog.physorg.com/news4434.html

Hardware: Is Your Computer Killing You?
"Killing" might be too strong of a word, but not by much—computing
can hurt you physically, emotionally, and environmentally. Find out
how you can minimize the damage.

Having a whale of a time on the River Thames (Update: The whale
eventually died)The northern bottle-nosed whale, which is
16-18ft long and is usually found in deep sea waters, has passed Parliament
and is moving upstream. "Whale spotted in central London," BBC News, January 20, 2006 ---
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/4631396.stm
Jensen Comment
This may sound like fun, but have they forgotten about the Trojan Horse.
Islamic militants may be preparing to launch an attack through the mouth ---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Horse

Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area SchoolsNo one under 18 would be surprised to hear that
teenagers like to post their intimate thoughts and photographs online --
they've done it for years. But school administrators have begun to take
notice, and some are warning students that their online activities may
affect not only their safety, but also their academic and professional
lives.
Tara Bahrampour and Lori Aratani, "Teens' Bold Blogs Alarm Area Schools:
Uninhibited Online Remarks Full of Risks, Officials Warn," The Washington
Post, January 17, 2006; Page A01---
http://snipurl.com/WPNov17

Early in my career, I used to be upset when the
attendance in my classes fell. Nowadays I always tell students that the best
teacher is one who makes himself/herself redundant.
Americ Azevedo as quoted byStuart Silverstein in "The iPod Took My Seat,"
Los Angeles Times, January 17, 2006 ---
http://snipurl.com/iPodSeat (I thank Jagdish Gangolly for leading me to
this interesting article)

Americ Azevedo taught an "Introduction to
Computers" class at UC Berkeley last semester that featured some of the
hottest options in educational technology.

By visiting the course's websites, the 200
enrolled students could download audio recordings or watch digital
videos of the lectures, as well as read the instructor's detailed
lecture notes and participate in online discussions.

But there was one big problem: So many of the
undergraduates relied on the technology that, at times, only 20 or so
actually showed up for class.

"It was demoralizing," Azevedo said. "Getting
students out of their media bubble to be here is getting progressively
harder."

Skipping classes, particularly big lectures
where an absence is likely to go undetected, is a time-honored tradition
among college undergraduates who party too late or swap notes with
friends. These days, however, some professors are witnessing a spurt in
absenteeism as an unintended consequence of adopting technologies that
were envisioned as learning aids.

Already, even as many academics embrace the
electronic innovations, others are pushing back. To deter no-shows, they
are reverting to lower-tech tactics such as giving more surprise quizzes
or slashing their online offerings.

"Too much online instruction is a bad thing,"
said Terre Allen, a communication studies scholar and director of a
center that provides teaching advice to professors at Cal State Long
Beach.

This last term, Allen experimented with posting
extensive lecture notes online for her undergraduate course, "Language
and Behavior." One goal was to relieve students of the burden of
furiously scribbling notes, freeing them to focus on the lectures'
substance.

Yet the result, Allen said, was that only about
one-third of her 154 students showed up for most of the lectures. In the
past, when Allen put less material online, 60% to 70% of students
typically would attend.

When it comes to lectures with enrollment in
the hundreds, universities usually don't compel undergraduates to show
up, or even lower their grades for poor attendance.

"This is one of the things that divide
universities from high schools," Allen said. "Students are expected to
be personally responsible."

Still, Allen said, to curb "the absentee
approach to college," she won't put her lecture notes online this term.

If other teachers follow suit, that might make
a difference to students such as Julia Bui, a 23-year-old single mother
on track to graduate from Cal State Long Beach this spring. This last
semester, for the first time in her college career, Bui frequently
skipped one of her lecture classes.

At least 2.3 million people took some kind of
online course in 2004, according to a recent survey by The Sloan
Consortium, an online education group, and two-thirds of colleges
offering "face-to-face" courses also offer online ones. But what were
once two distinct types of classes are looking more and more alike --
and often dipping into the same pool of students.

At some schools, online courses -- originally
intended for nontraditional students living far from campus -- have
proved surprisingly popular with on-campus students. A recent study by
South Dakota's Board of Regents found 42 percent of the students
enrolled in its distance-education courses weren't so distant: they were
located on campus at the university that was hosting the online course.

Numbers vary depending on the policies of
particular colleges, but other schools also have students mixing and
matching online and "face-to-face" credits. Motives range from lifestyle
to accommodating a job schedule to getting into high-demand courses.

Classes pose challenges Washington State
University had about 325 on-campus undergraduates taking one or more
distance courses last year. As many as 9,000 students took both distance
and in-person classes at Arizona State Univesity last year.

"Business is really about providing options to
their customers, and that's really what we want to do," said Sheila
Aaker, extended services coordinator at Black Hills State.

Still, the trend poses something of a dilemma
for universities.

They are reluctant to fill slots intended for
distance students with on-campus ones who are just too lazy to get up
for class. On the other hand, if they insist the online courses are just
as good, it's hard to tell students they can't take them. And with the
student population rising and pressing many colleges for space, they may
have little choice.

In practice, the policy is often shaded.
Florida State University tightened on-campus access to online courses
several years ago when it discovered some on-campus students hacking
into the system to register for them. Now it requires students to get an
adviser's permission to take an online class.

Online, in-person classes blending Many
schools, like Washington State and Arizona State, let individual
departments and academic units decide who can take an online course.
They say students with legitimate academic needs -- a conflict with
another class, a course they need to graduate that is full -- often get
permission, though they still must take some key classes in person.

In fact, the distinction between online and
face-to-face courses is blurring rapidly. Many if not most traditional
classes now use online components -- message boards, chat rooms,
electronic filing of papers. Students can increasingly "attend" lectures
by downloading a video or a podcast.

At Arizona State, 11,000 students take fully
online courses and 40,000 use the online course management system, which
is used by many "traditional" classes. Administrators say the
distinction between online and traditional is now so meaningless it may
not even be reflected in next fall's course catalogue.

Arizone State's director of distance learning,
Marc Van Horne, says students are increasingly demanding both high-tech
delivery of education, and more control over their schedules. The
university should do what it can to help them graduate on time, he says.

"Is that a worthwhile goal for us to pursue?
I'd say 'absolutely,"' Van Horne said. "Is it strictly speaking the
mission of a distance learning unit? Not really."

Then there's the question of whether students
are well served by taking a course online instead of in-person. Some
teachers are wary, saying showing up to class teaches discipline, and
that lectures and class discussions are an important part of learning.

But online classes aren't necessarily easier.
Two-thirds of schools responding to a recent survey by The Sloan
Consortium agreed that it takes more discipline for students to succeed
in an online course than in a face-to-face one.

"It's a little harder to get motivated," said
Washington State senior Joel Gragg, who took two classes online last
year (including "the psychology of motivation"). But, he said, lectures
can be overrated -- he was still able to meet with the professor in
person when he had questions -- and class discussions are actually
better online than in a college classroom, with a diverse group
exchanging thoughtful postings.

Scientists are high on LSDSome 2,000 scientists, artists and technologists
gather to celebrate the 100th birthday of Albert Hofmann, the chemist who
discovered LSD. Some big thinkers credit the drug with changing the way they
solve tough problems. Ann Harrison reports from Basel, Switzerland.
Ann Harrison, "LSD: The Geek's Wonder Drug?" Wired News, January 2005
---
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70015-0.html?tw=wn_tophead_10

To Compete With Satellite, Radio Stations Add 'Multicasts,' But New
Radios Are RequiredRadio companies are rolling out a new technology
called "multicasting" that allows them to cram two or three stations onto FM
frequencies that today carry just one. But there's a catch: Listeners need
to buy new radio sets.
Sarah McBride, "More Choices Hit the Radio Dial: To Compete With Satellite,
Stations Add 'Multicasts,' But a New Device is Required," The Wall Street
Journal, January 19, 2006; Page D1 ---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113763826582650518.html?mod=todays_us_personal_journal

Question
If you are using MS Outlook, where is the OLK folder where Outlook stores
attached files?

Answer from Todd Siebold
Seehttp://www.outlook-tips.net/archives/2003/20030828.htm
Jensen Comment
In my computer the OLK62 folder is the dumbest thing ever invented by
Microsoft (welllll, maybe not the dumbest, but close). If you accidentally
save something to this folder (as Outlook is prone to do automatically), the
saved files can never be accessed, erased, or even opened. They're
almost as permanent as death and taxes.

A lesbian writes a book about living as a man: It turns out not
what you expect it to be But "Self-Made Man" turns out not to be what it
threatens to be, a men-are-scum diatribe destined for best-seller status in
the more militant alternative bookstores of Berkeley and Ann Arbor. Rather,
it's a thoughtful, diligent, entertaining piece of first-person
investigative journalism. Though there's plenty of humor in "Self-Made Man,"
Vincent - like her spiritual forebear John Howard Griffin, the white
journalist who colored his skin and lived as a black man in the South for
his 1961 book "Black Like Me" - treats her self-imposed assignment
seriously, not as a stunt.
David Kamp, "Male Like Me," The New York Times, January 22, 2006 ---
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/22/books/review/22kamp.html

Craigslist Founder Envisions Improved New Media Craig Newmark is still keeping most details of his
next venture under wraps but in an interview says it will "promote the best
of the press," prominently featuring people with the "best reputations."
K.C. Jones, "Craigslist Founder Envisions Improved New Media ,"
InformationWeek, January 17, 2006 ---
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177100737

HF's contention is that antivirus companies benefit from keeping their
customers just one step ahead of the next big malware attack. In other
words, why bother to invest the time and money creating a revolutionary
anti-malware engine when companies are willing to pay to upgrade regularly?
"Getting to the Root of Rootkits," by Larry Greenemeier, InformationWeek
Newsletter, January 19, 2006

The futility of
today's model for antivirus protection is fairly obvious. Plug one hole in
the dike and another will sprout. Pretty soon, you're running out of fingers
and toes to hold back the flood. It gets worse. Attackers without the skill
to create their own malicious hacks can outsource their dirty business to
others who will write the code for them and then offer services that keep
these rootkits from being detected.

One of the most
prominent rootkit suppliers is the Hacker Defender site, which I learned
about during an interview with Herbert Thompson, Ph.D., chief security
strategist for Security Innovation Inc., a provider of application security
services. Worse than simply selling rootkits to the masses, Hacker Defender
also offers anti-detection services that will help ensure that its rootkits
aren't detected by antivirus and other malware-prevention software.

These third-party
rootkits could be used by an employee who's about to leave an organization
or someone who thinks he or she will be fired and would love to keep control
within a network, Thompson told me. It's incredibly difficult for law
enforcement to gather evidence against someone selling hacks or botnets,
unless they slip up somehow. "If they are doing it from their house, they
are traceable; but what about if they're doing business from kiosks or
libraries?" Thompson asks.

When I asked Thompson
how a site trying so hard to protect its identity (the person running the
site refers to himself only as Holy Father) could collect for its services,
he told me that the answer is E-gold. Excuse me? He told me about one West
Indies company, E-gold Ltd., that doesn't possess any national currency of
any nation and has no bank accounts. "They don't trade in any sovereign
currency, so they avoid the scrutiny of the Secret Service," Thompson says.

Like most tech pros
who make a living selling security to defend against attacks, Thompson
couldn't give me a good explanation of why someone would trade in malicious
code, other than to make money. Of course, if you're that skilled a
programmer, there are lots of ways to make money. I decided to bless myself
and E-mail Holy_Father.

To my surprise, he
actually got back to me within a few hours. HF claims that it's because of
his work--he launched the site in 2002--that so many people even know what a
rootkit is. Of course, he had a lot of help from Sony.

HF's contention is
that antivirus companies benefit from keeping their customers just one step
ahead of the next big malware attack. In other words, why bother to invest
the time and money creating a revolutionary anti-malware engine when
companies are willing to pay to upgrade regularly? Sounds to me like he's
accusing the software market of complacency. I suppose he wouldn't be the
first. What's your take? Are the software companies being complacent? Is
there anything the white hats can do to win the chess match?

"Blackmailers Behind Attack On Million-Dollar Site: The British
college student who launched an ad gimmick on the Web that took in $1
million in a few months has received threatening letters from blackmailers
apparently behind a massive denial-of-service attack," by Antone Gonsalves,
InformationWeek, January 18, 2006 ---
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177101541

Pixels-For-Sale Site Spawns A Cottage Industry (Some of it Fraudulent)Copycats galore are rushing to cash in on the
success of milliondollarhomepage.com, and their pixel-selling approaches
range from Ponzi-style get-rich-quick schemes to clever knockoffs promoting
real estate.
W. David Gardner, "Pixels-For-Sale Site Spawns A Cottage Industry,"
InformationWeek, January 17, 2006 ---
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177101002

Airlines: Talk About a Distressed IndustryTwo-thirds of the U.S. airline industry is in
bankruptcy court. Some $10 billion in pension liabilities will be thrust
onto taxpayers if Delta and Northwest flip their pensions to the
government's Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, as United and US Airways
have already done. So when Delta and Northwest propose a way to help
themselves out of their current mess, you'd think that a supposedly
deregulatory, pro-market Bush Administration would stand aside and allow
them to proceed. But you'd be wrong.
"Flying Blind," The Wall Street Journal, January 18, 2006; Page A10
---
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113755147201949303.html?mod=opinion&ojcontent=otep
Jensen Comment
Most airline companies like U.S. automobile manufacturing companies badly
managed their entitlement programs for pensions and medical benefits,
including post-retirement benefits. Wise companies, like most colleges
on TIAA-CREF, funded these costs each year rather than make promises they
now cannot keep. Airline companies also caved in to union demands for
high salaries that are now being renegotiated under very stressful
circumstances for both management and employees. All this is taking
place at a time when another leap in fuel prices is looming with Iran's
nuclear standoff. Then come the ripple effects which economists call
multipliers. If the airlines raise prices too high, people cancel
vacation plans and the tourism industry in general takes a nosedive.

Nike from the Inside: Archives Help Businesses Learn from
MistakesThe documents, products and records a company keeps
in its archive help it to create institutional memories -- good and bad.
Nike turns to the shoes in its archives to be reminded of what worked -- and
what didn't.
"Archives Help Businesses Learn from Mistakes," NPR Audio ---
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5077178

The number of companies around the world that
reported incidents of fraud increased 22 percent in the last two years,
according to the 2005 biennial survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC),
which interviewed more than 3,000 corporate officers in 34 countries. In
England, a recent Ernst & Young survey of the Times Top 1000 indicated
the average cost of each fraud exceeded $200,000. But fraud is not the
only problem. There's also misconduct, unethical behavior, lying,
falsification of records, sexual harassment, and drug and alcohol abuse.

PwC found that “accidental” ways of detecting
fraud, such as calls to hotlines or tips from whistleblowers, accounted
for more than a third of the cases. Internal audits were responsible for
detecting fraud about 26 percent of the time.

Steven Skalak, Global Investigations Leader at
PwC, told Reuters: "I think the investment in control systems is paying
off and detecting more crime." The study found that companies with a
larger number of controls could better determine the full impact of the
fraud, uncovering three times as many losses as companies with fewer
controls.

Many of the new and increased controls were
generated through the passage of The Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act of 2002,
which made having confidential, anonymous reporting mechanisms a legal
requirement for any publicly traded company. But private, government and
non-profit organizations would be well advised to also create and
implement this important tool.

While executives get the headlines, 43 percent
of surveyed people admit to having engaged in at least one unethical act
in the workplace in the last year, and 75 percent observed such an act
and did nothing about it. Not spoken to the employee in question, not
reported it, nothing. As much as we do not like to admit it, theft,
fraud and malfeasance are common occurrences in companies. Unfortunately
these practices exist in every level of the organization and
irrespective of size or sector. Non-profits are stolen from in equal
measure.

The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
2002 Report to the Nation indicates, "the most common method for
detecting occupational fraud is by a tip from an employee, customer,
vendor or anonymous source." It additionally comments, "the presence of
an anonymous reporting mechanism facilitates the reporting of wrongdoing
and seems to have a recognizable effect in limiting fraud and losses."

The report concludes, "organizations with
hotlines can cut their fraud losses by approximately 50 percent per
scheme." To be effective, a confidential, anonymous reporting mechanism
must be operated by an independent, third party. Employees are
understandably hesitant and reluctant to report another employee. There
is not only the fear of retaliation; there is the fear of retribution
and of being ostracized by co-workers. In fact, in an independent
survey, 54 percent gave this as the main reason for their silence.

There is also a concern if the incident
involves management, or the person required to take the report or
initiate the investigation. Employees must be confident in knowing they
can report an incident effectively, confidentially and anonymously.
Furthermore, statistics prove that an internal hotline or reporting
mechanism is rarely perceived as truly anonymous.

You can become aware of and build upon the
positive aspects of employee relations while proactively addressing and
heading off potentially negative issues with Ethical Advocate’s
confidential, anonymous reporting mechanisms and feedback system.

Confidential, anonymous reporting mechanisms
serves as an early warning system, enabling organizations to react
quickly to investigate issues, and often resolve problems prior to
increased malfeasance, costly stealing, litigation, or negative
publicity. Spending a few dollars early on can save untold dollars and
valuable time. It also creates a culture of ethical behavior that over
time will diminish the prospects of these actions.

When installed properly, confidential,
anonymous reporting mechanisms can uncover a variety of information that
can improve processes, resolve issues, and prevent catastrophic
financial losses. Like a computer network and a website, an employee
hotline was once just a good idea that top companies had adopted. Now
it's a mandatory part of doing business.

Sex sells. It's an axiom of marketing and
business. The fact that sex helps sell technology has been a truism
since at least the early days of videotape technology. Consumers of
pornography drove the market for videotape machines, the reasoning goes.
Ditto for the Internet: Porno fans drove the explosion of Internet
content and the acceptance of Web browsers and streaming media.

I was reminded of this conventional wisdom at
the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Simultaneous with,
and adjacent to, CES was the Adult Entertainment Expo, a conference for
people involved and/or interested in what's new and exciting (so to
speak) in the "adult" industry, including new media technology. I didn't
attend the Adult Entertainment Expo (bosses, please note)--I was too
busy doing my job, interviewing sources, perusing the CES booths, and
putting together video segments for The News Show--so I can't report on
what was featured there.

But I thought about it, and what I thought was
this: If the axiom that "adult entertainment" drives the acceptance of
technology was ever true, it's not any more. Sex didn't drive the
phenomenal acceptance of the cell phone, interpersonal communication and
convenience did. And while there continues to be noise about a market
for adult entertainment over cell phones, it'll be a very minor revenue
stream at best. The same goes for the iPod. Sex didn't sell the handheld
digital music player, music did, preceded by the conversion to digital
media and the new modes of entertainment and the new business models
created by it.

Still, sex does play a role in the market for
new digital media. I was reminded of that when I stopped by Sony's huge
booth at CES. Poor Sony. The inventor of the Walkman and a pioneer in
VCR technology, the "One And Only" company has been taking a beating in
the market, and in consumer perception, at the hands of Apple (iPod) and
Microsoft (Xbox 360). But Sony's booth was very well attended,
especially the areas showing presentations about Sony's cell-phone
products and its next-generation video-game player, PlayStation 3.

The audience for the cell-phone demonstration I
witnessed was predominantly female, and the continuously running
PlayStation 3 preview was packed with men. Was either audience
exclusively one sex or the other? No. But the makeup of each was
unmistakable. Now, I know I have to be careful what conclusions I draw.
Is it that men are visually oriented and women oriented to sound? Or
that women like to communicate while men like to blow stuff up? There
may be some truth in both, but I'm not a behavioral scientist or
sociologist, so I am loath even to speculate.

What I can say is that the 150,000-plus
attendees at CES bore witness to the digital revolution reaching into
every level of society. And it isn't being driven by the small subset
that attended the Adult Entertain Expo, or the technology on display
there. Not that I would know what that was.

If I had known how wonderful it would be to have grandchildren, I'd have
had them first. ~Lois Wyse~

My grand kids believe I'm the oldest thing in the world. And after two or
three hours with them, I believe it, too. ~Gene Perret~

My Grandmother is over eighty and still doesn't need glasses. Drinks
right out of the bottle. ~Henry Youngman~

Grandchildren are God's way of compensating us for growing old. ~Mary H.
Waldrip~

You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your
Grandmother. ~Proverb~

An hour with your grandchildren can make you feel young again. Anything
longer than that, and you start to age quickly. ~Gene Perret~

The best baby-sitters, of course, are the baby's grandparents. You feel
completely comfortable entrusting your b aby to them for long periods, which
is why most grandparents flee to Florida or Arizona. ~Arthor Unknown~

Grandmother-grandchild relationships are simple. Grandmas are short on
criticism and long on love. ~Author Unknown~

Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do. Grandparents sort
of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children. ~Alex Haley~

A grandparent is old on the outside but young on the inside. ~Author
Unknown~

One of the most powerful handclasps is that of a new grandbaby around the
finger of a Grandfather. ~Joy Hargrove~

It's amazing how grandparents' seem so young once you become one. ~Author
Unknown~

Grandchildren don't make a man feel old; it's the knowledge that he's
married to a Grandmother. ~G. Norman Collie~

Grandparents' are similar to a piece of string - handy to have around and
easily wrapped around the fingers of their grandchildren. ~Author Unknown~

I want to die in my sleep like my Grandfather - not screaming and yelling
like the passengers in his car. ~Wil Shriner~

A Grandmother pretends she doesn't know who you are on Halloween. ~Author
Unknown~